| |
|
19. mars 2005
|
|
This is definately good news:
The top Marine officer in Iraq said Friday that the number of attacks against American troops in Sunni-dominated western Iraq and death tolls had dropped sharply over the last four months, a development that he called evidence that the insurgency was weakening in one of the most violent areas of the country.
The officer, Lt. Gen. John F. Sattler, head of the First Marine Expeditionary Force, said that insurgents were averaging about 10 attacks a day, and that fewer than two of those attacks killed or wounded American forces or damaged equipment. That compared with 25 attacks a day, five of them with casualties or damage, in the weeks leading up to the pivotal battle of Falluja in November, he said
In a wide-ranging, 45-minute telephone interview from his headquarters just outside Falluja, General Sattler said temporary checkpoints set up by Marine patrols had disrupted insurgent activity.
Sattler also emphasised that there were much more work to do.
It is worth noting that the NYT article is about as negative as it can possibly get, considering the positive information. But that is hardly surprising.
8:28:21 PM 
|
|
Meg Fowler:
I have a theory that the internet was created for three purposes:
- to send and receive email
- to traffic naked photos
- to express righteous (or unrighteous) indignation/anger.
Whatever other positive uses of the web might rise to the fore, I truly believe that when the vast majority of people come online, their efforts are geared towards one of these activities.
Unsurprisingly, like other great ideas, they can be combined. Read on.
8:29:31 AM
|
|
You have a problem getting up in the morning? The old alarm clock doesn't impress you? Try to make a Clocky. When you press the snooze button, the clock rolls off the table and hides, forcing you to begin every new day by chasing the alarm clock around the bedroom.
7:25:30 AM
|
|
Car bomb in Beirut. Eight people are reportedly wounded.
The blast created a two-metre deep (two-yard) crater, wrecked cars and blew off the front of nearby buildings.
The target was unclear. The attack occurred at midnight (2200GMT) in a predominantly Christian area.
Some people are trying to revive the civil war, maybe as an excuse to stop the withdrawal of Syrian troops. That does narrow down the suspects, doesn't it?
Hopefully cooler heads prevail.
7:19:46 AM
|
|
Yesterday, Amina Wadud, a professor of Islamic studies, led an Islamic prayer service for both men and women in Manhattan.
"The issue of gender equality is a very important one in Islam, and Muslims have unfortunately used highly restrictive interpretations of history to move backward," Miss Wadud said before the service. "With this prayer service we are moving forward. This single act is symbolic of the possibilities within Islam."
About 100 people attended the service, and the group appeared evenly divided between men and women. Most women wore the traditional Muslim head scarf and flowing robes.
Of course there were a few protesters:
There was a brief outburst from some protesters outside the building at the start of the service, but they were kept from entering by a heavy police presence. One young U.S.-born, bearded activist, who only gave his name as Nussrah, said Miss Wadud was not representative of Muslims.
"She is tarnishing the whole Islamic faith," he said.
Look in the mirror to learn who is tarnishing Islam, mate.
Mona Eltahawy wrote about the event in WaPo before the fact.
I can't tell you where the prayer will be held because I don't know yet. The location is being kept secret because the original venue backed out after it received threats for opening its doors to such a service.
But I can tell you that the courage of Amina Wadud, a professor of Islamic studies at Virginia Commonwealth University who will lead us all, is impossible to describe. And I can tell you what a thrill it will be to stand before God as the spiritual equal of the male congregants -- praying together, not behind the men and not in another room -- with a woman leading us.
There is nothing in Islam that bars a woman from giving the Friday sermon or from leading a mixed-gender prayer. The fact that only men have done both for centuries is one of many things that Muslims have rarely questioned. We have wasted time and energy circling the same old subjects: Just how much of woman's body should be covered; can men and women shake hands, etc.
It will take events like these to move Islam forward.
PS: A search brought up Amina Wadud's Qu'ran and Women in Google Print, giving a taster of the book.
6:55:19 AM
|
|
Popular Mechanics has dedicated its February 2005 issue to debunking 9/11 conspiracy myths, and does a very good job, too.
Healthy skepticism, it seems, has curdled into paranoia. Wild conspiracy tales are peddled daily on the Internet, talk radio and in other media. Blurry photos, quotes taken out of context and sketchy eyewitness accounts have inspired a slew of elaborate theories: The Pentagon was struck by a missile; the World Trade Center was razed by demolition-style bombs; Flight 93 was shot down by a mysterious white jet. As outlandish as these claims may sound, they are increasingly accepted abroad and among extremists here in the United States.
To investigate 16 of the most prevalent claims made by conspiracy theorists, POPULAR MECHANICS assembled a team of nine researchers and reporters who, together with PM editors, consulted more than 70 professionals in fields that form the core content of this magazine, including aviation, engineering and the military.
In the end, we were able to debunk each of these assertions with hard evidence and a healthy dose of common sense. We learned that a few theories are based on something as innocent as a reporting error on that chaotic day. Others are the byproducts of cynical imaginations that aim to inject suspicion and animosity into public debate. Only by confronting such poisonous claims with irrefutable facts can we understand what really happened on a day that is forever seared into world history.
Get an issue of this magazine, and be ready to smack any conspiracy nut in the head with it. It will not make them change their minds, as nothing ever does, but it will make you feel better.
Kudos to PM for covering this topic expertly.
I have posted quite a bit on this topic earlier, most notably giving nutty British MP Michael Meacher a well deserved trashing.
2:13:12 AM
|
|
Hugh Hewitt is right: Claudia Rosett definitely deserves a 2005 Pulitzer Prize for her significant role in uncovering UNSCAM, the oil for food palaces scandal that is still shaking the UN towers.
Think she'll get one? I'd bet against, but I would allow myself to be pleasantly surprised.
WizBlog, one of quite a few blogs following UNSCAM closely, praises Rosett:
And it was all the way back in April 2004 when the words Rosett and Pulitzer were first linked here. So I can only enthusiastically endorse Hugh's suggestion, and thank Ms. Rosett personally for her example. She is illuminating and inspirational, regardless of what the silly-ass little committee decides on April 4.
Indeed.
It took me another month to link to one of Rosett's articles, even though I followed UNSCAM from February last year (and started using the easily searchable term UNSCAM in April.)
1:56:49 AM
|
|
OLAF, the EU anti-fraud office, has conducted some sort of investigation into allegations that EU money to the Palestinian Authority was used for terrorism, and to nobody's surprise it found no evidence EU money was used to kill Israelis.
On the basis of the information currently available to OLAF, the investigation has found no conclusive evidence of support of armed attacks or unlawful activities financed by the European Commission’s contributions to the budget. However, the possibility of misuse of the Palestinian Authority’s budget and other resources, cannot be excluded, due to the fact that the internal and external audit capacity in the Palestinian Authority is still underdeveloped.
The number of CYA statements above should be enough to give pause to anyone thinking this is a vindication for the EU. Of course the PA will not see it that way.
Soccer Dad is decidedly unimpressed, and points to some evidence he and I both think OLAF didn't find it worth looking into.
If you don't look for something, you won't find it.
Just so.
1:42:25 AM
|
|
Skeptico, a brilliant skeptic blog, informs me that NBC is running a programme called "Medium" about an alleged psychic medium helping the police with crime mysteries. This can only serve to propagate a popular myth:
But as a general comment, there is no good evidence that psychics have ever helped police solve crimes. In fact, the evidence is that so-called psychics, with their made-up tips, waste police time, hinder investigations and ultimately torment the parents of missing children with false hopes that are later dashed.
Read the rest, including statements from the police and one exploited relative.
In Norway, the channel TVN has run a series called "Fornemmelse for mord" (roughly, Sense of murder) where alleged psychics were run loose on real unsolved murder cases, and were allowed to propagate their delusions to a big audience. Unsurprisingly, no case was solved, but totally innocent people were accused in their communities based on the "feelings" of "psychics."
It remains a fact that nobody, nowhere, has pointed to any case where a "psychic" really solved a crime case, despite so many attempts you'd expect the law of high numbers should produce at least one credible result. Still, psychics still make the police waste their limited resources on wild goose chases, and a lot of grieving relatives have their life exploited by delusional (or deliberately manipulative) "psychics" who get free advertising to a large audience.
PS: Skeptico also plugs the Skeptics Circle, "a biweekly carnival for bloggers who apply critical thought to questionable stories." Read the fourth edition of the skeptics circle.
1:19:42 AM
|
|
|
© Copyright 2005 Jan Haugland.
Last update: 01.04.2005; 01:57:48.
|
|
|
